Spin Copper Into Gold

What a comeback! Yesterday, the US stock market experienced what can only be described as a face-ripping rally.

One trading day after the US indices officially entered a bear market the Dow Jones soared 1086 points, it's biggest single-day gain ever. The Nasdaq rose an unthinkable 6.32%, and the S&P 500 put up its best performance since March 2009.

For anybody surprised by yesterday's snap rally, let this serve as a reminder of the power of financial markets. These type of gains are actually quite common in a bear market. In fact, they're even more common in a bear market.

Traditional Markets

Today we mark the 6th day of the US government shutdown. As I mentioned in yesterday's update, trading during the holiday season can be a bit wonky. When volumes are low, prices tend to be a bit more slippery.

We can see that in oil as well, which fell 6.6% on Monday and rose 8% on Wednesday.

Russia has now indicated that they'll do more to assist OPEC in stabilizing the price going into 2019, but at this point, it's unclear what they can really do when even that announcement has appeared to cause volatility.

Another indication of this may be that Asian markets have not continued the US market's enthusiasm, despite news that...

Spinning Copper into Gold

As a person who began his trading career in 2008, I've always been partial to keeping a bit of gold in my portfolio. It's great for diversification purposes, as a hedge against risk and many traders recommend to hold between 5% and 20% on low leverage.

Yesterday, there was a rather shocking breakthrough out of China that some think could jeopardize this though.

Some on social media were quick to point out that they've figured out a way to "fork gold" and that this could have implications for bitcoin.

Please note: All data, figures & graphs are valid as of December 27th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you can afford to lose.

Disclaimer: This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or an investment recommendation. Past performance is not an indication of future results. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.

My responsibilities at eToro include updating clients and employees on market events, preparing a daily market analysis by Email that is read by thousands of market participants, preparing training courses, live market webinars and Feacebook streams, speaking at seminars, making viral videos, and writing articles and blogs for the investment community. I also work directly with eToro's highest equity clients to assist personally with their portfolio management.

Regular contributor on investing.com, FX-Street, hacked.com, and more. Co-authored the book "The Complete Guide to Fintech, Trading, and Investments"